


California Beaches

by elizabeth_darcy



Category: Pride and Prejudice & Related Fandoms, Pride and Prejudice (2005), Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Genre: Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Beaches, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 11:26:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7889836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elizabeth_darcy/pseuds/elizabeth_darcy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So I wrote this during the week Taylor Swift and Tom Hiddleston were spotted on a beach together...<br/>And the cogs in my mind began turning...</p>
<p>Celeb AU anyone?</p>
            </blockquote>





	California Beaches

_**JUNE** :_

_Beep beep._

I quirked a brow before putting down my book and riffling through my bag for my phone. I knew that noise. It was my CelebTracker app. I had it set to follow any time Jane's name was in any big headlines because, while she's my best friend and would of course tell me everything that was going on in her life, sometimes the tabloids got to it first.

She was the only reason I had the app anyway; I didn't even have myself followed on it.

_JARLIE BROKE UP? CHARLIE BINGLEY ANNOUNCES SPLIT WITH JANE GARDINER IN OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW..._

 

My eyes grew wide as I tapped the article.

"Holy shit," I breathed to myself.

_"We just weren't completely clicking..."_

_"I felt like I was more in the relationship than she was..."_

_"My friends gave me some advice and I listened."_

 

His "friends"?

I scoffed, knowing full well who that meant. And that _friend_  was going to get my entire fist in his douchebag mouth the next time I saw him.

I threw together my belongings and marched up toward the beach house, no longer able to enjoy the ocean view.

I stormed in and slammed the door behind me, "UGH!"

So help me God, this man was SO lucky he decided to go to lunch with Charlotte and Collins because otherwise I would-

"Lizzy?" Darcy asked, looking in at me from the kitchen.

My fingers clenched around my house keys. _Oooooh, it's on._ I walked into the kitchen.

"I thought you were staying down at the beach all day..." He asked.

"I was. Until I got a little notification on my phone. Ever heard of the app CelebTracker?"

"Yeah...?" He replied slowly.

"I follow Jane on it. And guess what _interesting_  article I happened to come across today?"

His face became grave, "Lizzy I-"

"You told him to break up with her! How fucking dare you! ' _We weren't completely clicking_ ' my ass! You've been in the room when they're together, and you know that's bullshit! They were _electric_ around each other!"

"She wasn't interested, Lizzy, it was obvious! I've seen how she acts with other guys at bars when he's not around. She doesn't care for their relationship; she just wants to be dating someone!"

"She's _friendly_!" I shouted, "Maybe that's hard for you to understand, but unlike you,  _she_ is actually nice to people! She _converses_ with people! Believe it or not, there are people in this world who don't walk around at parties refusing to talk to anyone because they think they're better than everyone else! Perhaps you'd like her more if she started calling people 'barely tolerable' in the tabloids!"

He deflated, "You still think that?" He said quietly.

"What do you mean 'do I still think that'! You fucking  _said_  it! What do you-"

"I love you, Lizzy," he said, seriously.

" _What_?!" I exclaimed.

He looked down, "I thought the same thing. What with your family and your lack of a solid career-"

I smacked him.

"Fuck you. Don't ever talk to me again. Or to Jane. Don't even talk to George Wickham-"

"George _Wickham_?"

"Yeah. George Wickham. You ruined his directing career-"

" _I_ ruined _his_?" Rage sparked in his eyes, "Oh, that's funny!"

I swallowed, "You keep spreading lies about him to everyone he has the chance at working with! He'll never be able to direct again! Can't you _ever_  let someone else be happy besides yourself?!"

"You have no idea what you are talking about," he bit back, clenching his jaw.

I grit my teeth back at him and narrowed my eyes. I wanted to throw the entire kitchen set at him. He wasn't even _sorry_  for what he did to Wickham or to Jane. He just hurt and hurt and never gave a crap about who it affected.

"Tell Charlotte I caught a bus back up to LA," I replied, spinning around and starting up the stairs to go pack, "I have a best friend to go console."

 

•••••

 

  
**_AUGUST_** :

 

I threw my head back and laughed at Charlotte's joke before spinning the frisbee back at her.

"You know, this is apparently William Darcy's favorite beach..." She said.

"According to whom?" I inquired, light-heartedly.

"Tiger Beat I think."

She spun the frisbee back to me.

"Of course, we all know they only report the facts."

Charlotte laughed, "I'm serious."

"Me too," I insisted.

"Why don't you talk to him?"

"Darcy?! What do you mean? Like, what, just call him up on the phone and say 'Hey sorry about the other month, hope there's no hard feelings!'" I scoffed and caught her toss, "No way. Even _I_ wouldn't accept that apology."

"Then give him an apology you _would_ accept."

"That's the thing- there isn't one. Char, you act like I haven't been racking my brain for weeks about this. Believe me, if there was a way to do it, I would've already. You know that, man, why are you bringing it up _again_?"

"Hmm, no reason. He's just about a hundred yards behind you right now."

I choked, "What?!" I itched to whip my head around and look but I knew it would only attract attention. Hopefully he would just walk right past and never even notice-

"Hey, Darcy!" Charlotte screamed, waving her arms and looking past me at what I could only assume to be Darcy.

_You had to be joking._

Charlotte started jogging past me, but I caught her arm and stopped her for a second.

"I'll murder you for this," I hissed.

She grinned back, "Not in front of him you won't!"

I cursed under my breath as she darted off in his direction.

_This is fine. I can manage it. If Charlotte doesn't have any more tricks up her sleeve, it can be a ten minute conversation and we will be on our way- never to see each other again._

_I only need to last ten minutes._

I turned around and saw that undeniable black hair and rigid stature. Yep, William Darcy.

Next to... a girl.

A _girl_??

It'd been less than two months since he said he loved me, and yet he already found a new girl!

I shook my head. Okay, so he hadn't truly meant the "I love you". But I knew that already. That had just been something he said in the heat of the moment. I decided that a long time ago. Him finding someone else so soon shouldn't be a surprise.

I ignored the dropping in my stomach, blaming it on my hunger, and began jogging toward them.

_Ooh, being hungry would be a good excuse to get me out of talking to Darcy for long. Charlotte and I were about to head out for lunch soon anyway..._

"Hey," I greeted awkwardly, once I'd reached the group. "Good to see you again, Darcy."

He smiled slightly, "You too."

"I'm Lizzy," I introduced, waving to the girl by Darcy's side.

She was absolutely beautiful and I could see why any man would be in love with her. Why Darcy would be in love with her.

The girl's face lit up with recognition, " _Lizzy_? Lizzy Bennet? Oh my god," she looked back at Darcy, "She's-"

"This is Georgie," Darcy hastily interrupted, "She's my sister."

My suspicions about what Georgie was about to say disappeared at that word. ' _Sister.'_  


My stomach inflated and I blamed it, again, on my hunger.

Something in the back of my head reminded me that this must be the sister Darcy had talked about.

The one who George Wickham had...

"It's great to meet you."

"You too," Georgie replied with a knowing smile to her brother which made me suspicious again.

What had he told her?

Oh god, _what had he told her_?

"So," Charlotte said, "Lizzy and I were just about to go get some lunch. Do you two want to join?"

My eyes grew wide and I set my jaw. Oh, I was _so_ going to get her back for this.

"Absolutely!" Georgie answered quickly.

"Uh, Charlotte, you know, actually, I think I wanna hang back and stay here. I'm thinking about swimming a little; it's getting pretty hot. But you guys should totally go without me!"

"Oh my god, William was just saying how he wanted to get in the water! Besides, he ate right before we left. Come on, Charlotte, I'll take you to this Italian place I know down the street."

Before I could answer, Georgie had grabbed Charlotte's hand and they were bounding across the sand and towards her car.

I looked back over at Darcy with a weak smile that didn't even begin to hide my panic.

I wanted to just make up another excuse and run to the beach house, but I'd already been rude to him so many times in the past, and he didn't deserve that. Leaving him alone on the beach for who knows how long would be too far.

"So..." I said swallowing.

"Yeah..."

"I hear you were cast in a Steven Spielberg movie. That's pretty cool..."

 

*****

 

He laughed, picking me up from the water and twirling me around.

I playfully swatted at his back until he dropped me back into the water.

I came back up to the surface and splashed him, "You're an asshole," I joked, grinning.

"You're not the first person to tell me that," he joked back.

I snorted and floated some more before exclaiming, "God, I'm hungry."

"Why didn't you go with Charlotte and Georgie?"

I stood up all the way in the water and smoothed out my wet hair, "Could you blame me for trying to get myself out of an awkward situation?"

"Not really, I suppose. You know I have some food in my backpack..." he pointed toward the shore, where he'd dropped it along with his shirt before we got in the water.

I nodded and we both began heading toward the sand.

Once we reached it, he opened up his bag and pulled out a granola bar, an apple, a sandwich, and a bag of frosted animal crackers. He shook his head and put the animal crackers back in the bag, "Georgie will kill me if someone eats those."

I chuckled and took the apple.

Collapsing onto my lounge car, I motioned for him to take Charlotte's.

After a few moments of us just sitting there and eating, I shook my head, "Man, Charlotte's such a smug little asshole."

He scoffed, "Georgie sure does give her a run for her money."

I laughed, "You can say that again."

We smiled and returned to silence.

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"Are you still upset she left you?" Darcy spoke up slowly, "Do you still find this... us... awkward?"

I reopened my eyes and sat up to face him. He looked really unsure of himself and I felt bad for mentioning it in the first place.

"No," I said. And, to my surprise, I was being honest. I'd truly had a good time with him in the last couple hours.

He smiled at my answer and relaxed, leaning back into the chair.

I remained sitting up and picked at my towel as I formed what I was going to say, "Darcy, I'm really sorry. And I don't know any other way to say it. I've been thinking about it for weeks and I still don't know what to say to you. How to apologize. What I said was out of line and-"

"True," he interrupted, "But I needed to hear it. Sometimes all this fame stuff gets to my head. I needed someone to ground me. People in this business aren't usually very honest."

"But it _wasn't_ true. Not the Wickham part..." I felt dirty just mentioning it.

He shook his head, still relaxed with the matter, "It was true to you at the time. You didn't know, and how could you? It's not like I went around telling it to the world."

"But I shouldn't have assumed anything without hearing your side of the story."

He stared at me for a long time before asking "Has this really been bothering you all this time?"

I paused, " _Yeah,"_  I said seriously. "How could it _not_ be?"

He smiled to himself and sat up, removing his sunglasses from his ~~gourgeous~~ blue eyes and sitting up to meet my gaze, "Lizzy, you're forgetting that I made assumptions, too. Everything with Charlie and Jane as well as your family..."

I shook my head, "But that wasn't..."

He grabbed my hand and I immediately stopped talking, shocked.

"We both made mistakes," he said seriously, "I'm not angry with you. And I hope you aren't angry with me."

"I'm not," I replied, relieved.

I felt a weight being lifted off of me. He wasn't angry. _He wasn't angry._  


 

•••••

 

  
**_SEPTEMBER_** :

 

I bit my lip and pressed my knees tighter toward my chest, ignoring the sting of the sharp edges of the rock I was sitting on.

I pushed away the memories of Darcy and I splashing around in the waters below only a couple weeks ago.

So much had changed after that day.

I may or may not have even started tracking Darcy on CelebTracker.

Which meant I got to be alerted about his new relationship with Anne DeBourgh the moment it hit the tabloids. _Lucky me._  


I don't know why I was so disappointed. It's not like I'd expected to _date_ Darcy or anything. Of course not.

That was impossible considering where we'd started off.

"Give it a rest," I muttered to myself, pressing my face to my knees and groaning.

A voice chuckled from behind me, "Of all the beaches and all the times. How exactly do we keep running into each other?"

I blinked.

"Darcy?" I turned around and sniffed, hoping he wouldn't see that my face was a little puffy, "I don't know. Guess I just like this beach."

"Uh huh," he laughed walking toward me, "May I join you?"

"Knock yourself out."

He sat next to me and looked off into the ocean.

I snorted, "You don't exactly look beach ready," I smiled, looking at his button down and slacks. It was very Darcy of him.

I knew it was bizarre to see him in swimming trunks a few weeks ago, but I hadn't realized it was a once in a lifetime thing.

"Not really in the mood to swim," he commented, taking his hands from his pockets and putting them behind himself for leverage.

"Then why come to the beach?" I asked.

"I wanted to see the sunset."

I followed his gaze. It _was_ breathtaking. The sky was ablaze with vivid pinks and oranges of all shades.

"I take it you've heard that Jarlie is back together," Darcy said, turning toward me.

I raised an eyebrow, "Since when have you called them 'Jarlie?'"

"Since now. I think it's a good word. And I think we might be using it for a while."

I smiled warmly, "I hope so."

He met my gaze with an equal smile for a long moment before frowning slightly and looking down, "Lizzy..."

I braced myself. I wasn't sure what he was going to say whatsoever but it didn't sound good.

"Lizzy, I'm sorry, but I don't know if we can keep seeing each other."

I felt like all the air had been sucked out of me, "Right." Part of me had wanted to believe that the Anne thing was just a rumor. Mindless gossip.

"I'm sorry. It's just... I don't want to be just friends with you. And you made it very clear that you don't want anything more- actually that you don't want _anything_ \- and I don't think I can handle being just friends with you. It's probably not a big deal for you anyway, now that I'm saying it aloud I see that-"

"What?"

He stopped and turned to me. "What?"

"Just... what? What are you talking about? You have a girlfriend."

"I have a _what_?"

I narrowed my eyes, "A girlfriend. Anne DeBourgh."

He laughed, "Where did you hear that?"

"What do you mean? It's all ovet the tabloids."

"My agent likes to spin stories about me a lot. Especially stories that involve her own daughter."

"So you aren't dating her?"

"No!"

It felt like weights had been removed from my chest. Holy shit!

"Wait, wait, wait. Did you say you..." I paused, trying to recall if I heard him right.

To my confusion, Darcy's face fell, "I, uh, nevermind."

"No," I took his hand, "Tell me."

He looked down at own intertwined hands for a long time before looking me back up in the eyes, "I still love you. And I understand that you don't feel the same, so I think that we can't-"

I kissed him.

In the moment, my brain couldn't figure out a way to explain everything he was saying wrong, so I just took his face in my hands and kissed him.

And my god, it felt like fireworks. I practically melted into him, realizing just how much I really did like him. Maybe even love him.

And he kissed back.

The sounds of clicking and cheering brought me out of the trance and I eventually was able to pull myself away from him long enough for Darcy to whisper, "It's paparazzi."

I let out a gut laugh and touched my forehead to his, "You've got to be kidding..."


End file.
